other cheap import bandsaws

ysforge

ysforge

Joined
Jan 10, 2005
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Alright guys, I know that we've all got the little HF band saws, but there's another company that sell's them too along with what looks like a much upgraded unit.

If you look at the second saw you'll see the inclusion of a better vise, better stand, and probably most important, a hydraulic feed. I've never been really happy with the spring tension feed on mine.

The thing you've got to watch for is the shipping on these suckers, they don't have the same $8 shipping that HF does.

bandsaw

Improved saw

Thought I'd share with you guys in case you're un-aware of these guys

Tony
 
Hey Tony-

I just looked at one Indentical to that one in every regard (but color).

One of the "local" tool places carries Shop Fox, and they have that machine. I looked it over, and it's a big improvment over the "regular" model.

It looked like a good saw... definitely a lot heavier as well.

Good of you to do the heads up Tony :)
-Nick-
 
Nick

I get the impression that "Shop Fox" is the brand. Please let me know if that is true and if there are any contact details, so that I can find a local dealer.


Tony

Does it look like the vice and other enhancements would fit the HF saws? Shipping the whole saw to Texas would cost about $150.

Does anybody know if Homier holds any of their mobile sales in areas outside of the north and northeast?

Thanks.

Phil
 
yes, that second model looks much improved...but can you sit on it horse-back style while you cut? :rolleyes: :p
 
Thanks for the link Tony, hadn't seen that one :cool:


I'm in the market for a bandsaw and this looks pretty interesting. Does anyone here have one?
I could get it shipped for $50. So that would make it $50 more expensive than if I went to harbor frieght and picked up their saw. Does it look like its improved enough to spend the $50?

Also, for around $200 I can also get a 4 1/2" vertical horizontal saw made by Clarke USA from a local TSC store. Anybody have any experience with their tools? I couldn't find any specs on them online, will have to go to the store to get details. They look pretty well identical to the harbor freight/central machinery saw, just blue paint :rolleyes:
 
Matt Shade said:
Also, for around $200 I can also get a 4 1/2" vertical horizontal saw made by Clarke USA from a local TSC store. Anybody have any experience with their tools? I couldn't find any specs on them online, will have to go to the store to get details. They look pretty well identical to the harbor freight/central machinery saw, just blue paint :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I have a Jet bandsaw, and when I saw the Clarke at TSC it looked exactly like my Jet, with the same sort of "upgrades" over the standard cheap import saw. I had compared the Jet and a cheaper HF-like model side-by-side and the Jet was much sturdier and nicer. The cheaper one felt like it was going to fall apart when I picked it up to roll it around.

So the Clarke seemed like it would be pretty decent. I probably would have got it instead of the Jet if I had known about it at the time, since it was $50 cheaper.
 
I will never buy another cheapass HF saw. I have had nothing but problems right out of the box with the new one I just bought a couple months ago. There are some major design flaws in the newer HF saws, the worst being the way the blade guides are built.

The old guides are made like the ones in Tony's link, by which the solid steel bars that the rollers are attached run inside the upper frame. The ball bearing roller guides then also have a tilt adjustment to allow the blade to run straight and true. The new style places the rollers on a cheap metal stamping attached outside the frame, and there is no tilting adjustment at all. Some folks call me anal about this, but dammit cheap equipment is one thing - nonfunctional equipment is totally another. :mad:

Phew! another little rant there, hehe. :p
 
Khukuri Monster said:
I have a Jet bandsaw, and when I saw the Clarke at TSC it looked exactly like my Jet, with the same sort of "upgrades" over the standard cheap import saw. I had compared the Jet and a cheaper HF-like model side-by-side and the Jet was much sturdier and nicer. The cheaper one felt like it was going to fall apart when I picked it up to roll it around.

So the Clarke seemed like it would be pretty decent. I probably would have got it instead of the Jet if I had known about it at the time, since it was $50 cheaper.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll have to go look at one sometime soon. I've pretty well given up on the HF saw. Guess its down to either the Clarke, or the homier saw, or using that damn hacksaw for a good bit longer :foot:
 
I have an old Harbor Freight band saw that I bought over seven years ago and I've never had a minutes problem out of it. I replaced the table on it with a larger one. I've never had any tracking problems with it, no problems with the guides either. I might have just gotten lucky and the workers who built it might have been in a good mood that day, but I've gotten my moneys worth out of it. The first thing you need to do with any of the cheap saws is to throw away the blade that comes on it and replace it with a good Lenox bimetal one.
 
i'm in the same boat with jhiggins.i think we bought ours about the same time.this one is nowhere built like the old one.if i ever find a gear for my old one,i'll use this one for a doorstop.
 
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